Fd. judge up holds individual mandate...

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Federal Judge Upholds Individual Mandate in Healthcare Reform Law

US District Judge Steeh, in Detroit, Michigan, ruled that the

nation's constitution permits the federal government to require individuals

to obtain

health insurance coverage as part of the historic Affordable Care Act

(ACA)....

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Steeh is the first judge to rule on the constitutionality of the law but he

will not be the last. Similar to plaintiffs in the other lawsuits, the

More Law Center contends that the federal government has no constitutional

right to compel individuals to obtain health insurance or to penalize them

for

not doing so. In essence, the center says, the ACA is an attempt to regulate

not just individual activity but also individual inactivity, which opens the

door to a complete loss of freedom.

The government has argued that it is legally operating under the

constitution's commerce clause, which authorizes it to regulate interstate

commerce. According

to the federal brief, the individual mandate addresses a problem in the

interstate market of healthcare created by people who forgo insurance. The

cost

of care that many of these individuals receive free of charge from hospitals

and physicians gets shifted to providers, insurers, governments, and in the

end, insured individuals and taxpayers, disrupting the marketplace, the

government states.

Steeh agreed with the government's arguments about the commerce clause in

his ruling today and also upheld the constitutionality of the penalty that

individuals

must pay for not obtaining insurance coverage.

Legal experts predict that no matter who wins or loses, the ACA lawsuits

filed in various federal district courts will make their way to the US

Supreme

Court.